Yogurt with fruit and granola

Yogurt with fruit and granola

The last holiday recipe has been posted, the last holiday treats are gone. Time to return to a much healthier but no less enjoyable routine.  Make a layer of fresh, well-rinsed, cube-cut strawberries. Add a tablespoon of orange juice. Add a layer of  vanilla yogurt and a layer of granola with dried berries. Top it with more yogurt and fruit. I was lucky to have pomegranate seeds in the fridge.  Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, bananas, mango, and pine-apple are all very tasteful variations. Plain yogurt or strawberry yogurt, also, awesome. Pick your favorite yogurt, fruit, and granola and go!

 

 

Baked baby potatoes with caraway seeds

Baby baked potatoes

This is the last recipe that I’m posting from my Christmas dinner. I made it as a side veggie dish but you can make it on any day and serve it with some white cheese and a salad for dinner.  Cook the potatoes  in a Dutch Oven (“gastra” in Greek) without any water and add caraway seeds for a nice kick in the taste. I used less that the recipe called for because I wasn’t sure how strong the flavor would come out  but next time I’ll be more generous.  Don’t hesitate to use a whole garlic, either.

Recipe 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds baby potatoes
• 5 carrots
• 1 garlic (all of it)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• juice from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• sea salt and pepper to your taste

How to make it: Wash the potatoes and boil them in hot water for about 5 minutes. Put the potatoes in the Dutch Oven. Add the olive oil to the hot potatoes, spreading it evenly so all the potatoes get some.  Add the carrots. Wet the garlic head with some water. Break it into cloves and add the cloves in the dish without peeling them. Add the lemon juice, rosemary, caraway seeds, salt, and pepper. Cover with the lid and cook at pre-heated oven at 360F/180C for about 45 minutes or until fork tender.

Crown roast

Crown roast

I promise this is the last photo I upload for which I need to apologize for the quality. This is the recipe I used to make the crown roast for the Christmas dinner. The crown roast is pork meat and you ask the butcher to tie it for you. It’s an impressive dish for a festive occasion, tasty, and easy to make.  For this dish I consulted simply recipes and epicurious. My crown roast was twice as big so I doubled the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients for crown

• 8-9 pound crown roast
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
•  freshly ground black pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon but I don’t measure it)
• 1 cup water

Ingredients for sauce

• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt, pepper

How to make the crown: Combine all the spices, rub the roast, and let the meat stand in room temperature for an hour. The meat will cook more tender if  it reaches room temperature.  Place the roast in a shallow pan and add a cup of water. Don’t forget to cover the bones with foil to prevent burning. Cook the meat at pre-heated 350F/180C oven for about 10 minutes per pound or until a thermometer in the meat reaches 150F. When it’s ready, take it out of the oven and let it stand for 20 minutes before you start carving it.

How to make the sauce. Put all the juices in a  glass (or better yet gravy separator if you have one). Try your best to remove excess fat that will have surfaced on the top. Now, take the pan and put it on the stove across two high heat burners. Add wine to glaze the tasty bits and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the broth and the starch. Cook for a few more minutes. Add the butter and stir well to incorporate it. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Carrots cooked with mustard and honey

Carrots with mustard and honey

Same photo shooting problem with the other holiday dishes…. I was only able to take a photo while I was cooking and not before serving. I wanted veggie dishes with the meat and was looking for simple recipes but with a little kick. I found this recipe for carrots at My Little Expat Kitchen and loved it. You know how guests are. They would never be happy with raw or just boiled carrots but they had these carrots happily and earned their dessert!

For 14 adults and 6 kids, I, of course, tripled the recipe. I had twice as many carrots as you see in the pan.

Recipe

Ingredients 

• 1 pound carrots
• 1 stick or 125 grams butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
• the juice and zest  from one lemon
• salt

How to make: Peel and wash the carrots. In a bowl whisk the mustard with the honey and lemon juice. Arrange the carrots in a big pan (do not crowd them). Add the butter and turn the heat to medium. When the butter is melted, add the honey-mustard mix and cook for about 20 minutes, turning sides mid-way. Serve with drops of pan juices and lemon zest.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Glorious “wreath”

Tidbits for the "wreath"

The first course of  our Christmas Eve dinner was a “wreath” made with minced meat, suggested by  Vicky  as an alternative and fun way to serve the turkey stuffing. I didn’t cook turkey as I had initially considered but the wreath-dish looked too irresistible to bypass so I made it anyway.  I got a photo of the various tidbits that decorated the “wreath”. The photo for the actual wreath is too embarrassing but I included it anyway. I can’t remember to take photos when I have a big party at home. The one you see  is from the kids’ table and some portion is already missing. We all enjoyed the intense taste of the meat combined with red pepper cubes and plenty more. Trying to keep the dish warm by reheating it multiple times until it was time to serve was not a great idea as it turned a bit dry and dark in the process, especially the tidbits. Next time I will serve it at room temperature. Definitely a keeper. Easy to make and impressive to serve. In case you’re wondering why so many tidbits in the photo, I made three “wreaths”!

The recipe

Ingredients for the “wreath”

• 1 pound minced meat
• 1 egg
• 1 slice of bread, watered and crumbled
• 1 tablespoon bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 onion pulped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons red pepper cubes (small)
• 1 tablespoon zest of lemon or orange
• 5-6 sage leaves, lightly sauteed in 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pistachios, crushed (didn’t use any because of the nut allergy we have at home)
• 2 tablespoons raisins, softened in brandy or other liquor for about 15 minutes
• 1 sausage, cut in small pieces
• salt, pepper

Ingredients for the tidbits

• sausage cut in pieces
• cooked chestnuts
• cooked Brussels sprouts
• mushroom caps
• caramelized onions (didn’t use them)
• cherry tomatoes
• dry prunes wrapped with bacon (I used dates)

How to make the “wreath”: Combine all the ingredients well so they are evenly distributed and well integrated. You can use your hands to shape the meat into a thick and long cylinder. You can use cling film if you want to squeeze tight so there will be no air pockets and also to shape it.  Close the cylinder to form a circle and transfer to a pan. Cooke at pre-heated oven 375F/190C for about  40 minutes. The center of the circle will become watery. Do not worry about it. When you take the meat out of the oven let it sit in the pan to absorb back in all the liquids that escaped during cooking.  Add the tidbits (see below) and serve.

How to make the tidbits

• Sausage: remove the skin, cut in pieces, and saute in a pan
• Prunes: wrap them with bacon and saute them in a pan
• Mushrooms: saute them in a pan, cap side down first, then turn on the other side
• Fresh cherry tomates
• Cooked chestnuts
• Cooked Brussels sprouts

Use toothpicks to stick the tidbits on the “wreath” and serve.

Turkey stuffing in a "wreath"

I used leftover minced meat to make meatballs for the kids. I cooked them in the oven. The kids showed a clear preference to the meatballs over  the fancier  ”wreath” .

 

Yule log or “kormos”

Christmas log

The Christmas log was the best received dish of  the Christmas dinner this year! I was very uneasy about how I’d made the cake roll without ending up with  a big mess of broken cake mixed up with chocolate icing. I made the log  the day before, just to be sure I’d have  enough time to make amendments in case of disaster. It is indeed quite challenging to roll the cake without breaking it.  The good news, though, is that it doesn’t matter! The recipe is very forgiving because in the end you cover everything with the chocolate icing. Try it! Credits for the recipe go to Nigella.

Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake

• 6 eggs, separated but keep both the whites and the yolks
• 150 grams caster sugar (finely ground sugar)
• 50 gram cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• confectioner’s sugar for decoration

 

For the icing

• 175 grams dark chocolate, chopped and melted
• 250 grams confectioner’s sugar
• 225 gram butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

 

How to make the cake: Beat the egg whites until they thicken. Add 50 grams caster sugar and beat a bit more.  In a bowl whisk or beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until they become whitish. Add the vanilla extract  and cocoa. Fold the egg whites in three batches, gently.  You don’t want to lose all the air from the meringue. Now, line a baking pan with parchment paper or silicone mat. Pour the batter evenly over the pan and bake at pre-heated oven 360F/180 C for about 20 minutes.

Here’s where I differ from Nigella. I wouldn’t wait to roll the cake when it’s completely cool. When you take it out of the oven, let it cool down so that it’s comfortable to touch. Sprinkle a tea towel with confectioner’s sugar, turn the cake on it and roll it ever so slightly. This way it will break less. Let it cool off completely in the loosely rolled position in the tea towel and start making the chocolate icing.

How to make the icing: To make the icing, first melt the chocolate and let it cool. I use the microwave to melt the chocolate starting with just a minute of heating. Then I whisk it to see if all the lumps are melted and, if needed, I put it back in the microwave for a few more seconds. Now, beat the confectioner’s sugar with the softened butter for a few minutes. Add the cooled chocolate and the vanilla, and beat some more until it’s smooth.

How to put it together: On a clean surface, gently unfold the cake. Spread a thin layer of icing on the top side. Carefully, roll the log and place it on a serving dish. Use the remaining icing to cover the log. Make some patterns to make it resemble a log. You can use a fork.  I used the plastic short fork that came with the  panini press (to clean the cheese from the grooves). You can freeze the log or keep it in the fridge until serving time. When you are ready to serve sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar for a snowy decoration.

“Melinakia” for Christmas

Bite size "Melinakia"

This Christmas, “Melinakia” were featured as the amuse bouche for our guests, grown-ups and kids. To make them bite-sized, I used the bottom of a glass to cut round-shaped pastries out of  puff-pastry sheets. I put one layer of goat cheese, one layer of tomato and topped with a drizzle of oil olive, salt, pepper, and basil.   I cooked them at 375F/180C  until golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Bon appetit!

Christmas dinner 2011

Christmas menu 2011

The table was all set up  the day before.  A little bit of a squeeze for fourteen people but who cares really!  Here’s my Christmas menu for 2011.

Reception

“Melinakia”

First

“Stefanaki”, minced meat dish with lots of herbs

Green salad with mint dressing

Main 

Crown roast spiced with fresh thyme and sage

Sides

Baked baby potatoes with caraway seeds

Carrots cooked in a honey-mustard sauce

Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts

Dessert

Yule log

Credits

“Stefanaki” by TasteFull

Green salad by TasteFull

Baked baby potatoes by TasteFull

Carrots by mylittleexpatkitchen

Brussels sprouts by TasteFull

Yule log by Nigella

“Kourabiedes” 2011, with orange extract and cherry rum

"Kourabiedes", the Greek Christmas cookies

Why mess up with a good thing? My nut free version of Vicky’s worked great last year and it lived up to expectations this year. To make it more fun I used orange extract instead of vanilla and substituted the cognac with cherry rum.  The result was cherrysome!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 600 grams butter at room temperature
• 100 grams confectioner’s sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• (200 grams cooked almonds or pistachios or walnuts)
• 50 ml cherry rum (or  brandy or masticha liquor or rum or rose-water)
• 1 kilo all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon  baking powder
• orange extract (or vanilla extract or lemon zest or orange zest)
• rose-water for brushing
• more confectioner’s sugar to sprinkle on top

How to make: Beat the butter with the confectioner’s sugar first at moderate and then at high-speed for about 20 minutes. Add the yolks one at a time and beat some more. Turn speed to lowest, switch whisk tool to bread tool, switch to lowest speed and add the flour gradually. If you are using nut, add them now.  Then, add the cherry rum and beat a bit longer at low-speed.  Make sure the dough is soft. Add some liquor if it’s too hard or more flour  if it’s too soft.

Start shaping the  kourampiedes one at a time. I made two shapes this year using just my hands: round and boomerang.  Arrange the “kourabiedes” on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or silicone cookie mats and bake in pre-heated oven at  170 C or 340 F for about 25-30 minutes.  Let them cool off completely.  Brush them with some liquor (I used rose-water) and sprinkle confectioner’s sugar generously. Indeed, I filled up a bowl with confectioner’s sugar and rolled the “kourabiedes” in it.

Happy Holidays!

"Kourabiedes" round and boomerang